Docket Page 72 – The Testaments – Margaret Atwood

CHARGE: To describe what happened after the end of the Handmaid’s Tale.

FACTS: 15 years after the Handmaid’s Tale ends, we meet Aunt Lydia and Agnes in Gilead and Daisy in Canada. Gilead is beginning to crumble from within…”as they fail to keep the promises that brought them to power…” Was this foreseen by the Handmaid’s Tale? Will there be outside forces that hasten the collapse? What is the value of women to society? Does society undervalue women – to what effect? Are these new women connected to Offred? Does she figure in the ultimate destiny of Gilead? This book will answer all these questions and more as we see the development of Gilead and its society.

VERDICT: Guilty, as charged, though the shifting voices and time periods often made it difficult to follow. The continued exploits of the residents of Gilead are very compelling.